Susanne Abbuehl — The Gift Born: July 30, 1970, Bern, canton of Berne, SwitzerlandLocation: Bern, Basel, Luzern, Los Angeles, IndiaAlbum release: May 13, 2013Recorded: July - August 2012 Record Label: ECMDuration: 61:53Tracks:01. The Cloud (5:12)02. This And My Heart (3:41)03. If Bees Are Few (1:41)04. My River Runs To You (5:23)05. Ashore At Least (7:38)06. Forbidden Fruit (2:06)07. By Day, By Night (4:05)08. A Slash Of Blue (1:36)09. Wild Nights (6:42)10. In My Room (4:56)11. Bind Me (1:24)12. Soon (Five Years Ago) (3:17)13. Fall, Leaves, Fall (4:06)14. Sepal (1:34)15. Shadows On Shadows (4:05)16. This And My Heart (Var.) (4:27)Personnel: •Susanne Abbuehl (voice)•Matthieu Michel (flugelhorn)•Wolfert Brederode (piano, Indian harmonium)•Olavi Louhivuori (drums, percussion)Website:http://www.susanneabbuehl.com/Label: http://www.ecmrecords.com/REVIEW¶ In her albums of sung poetry, Susanne Abbuehl grants words room to move. For her, "setting verse" implies more than the pinning of a poem's cadences to a fixed arrangement. On 'The Gift', as on her earlier recordings 'April' and 'Compass', she insinuates herself inside the texts, explores their inner rhythms and their melodies and meanings, and sets them free to gently float and sway. ¶ The approach is beautifully realised on this third ECM album by the Swiss-Dutch singer, recorded in the South of France in the summer of 2012 with, perhaps, the most responsive band she has yet led. Dutch pianist Wolfert Brederode remains a central presence in the line-up but they are joined now by Swiss player Matthieu Michel, a highly intuitive musical partner since 2009, whose flugelhorn is a wonderful second voice here, and Finnish drummer Olavi Louhivouri, whose sensitive playing was previously heard on Tomasz Stanko's 'Dark Eyes' album.¶ Poetry embraced here includes words by Emily Dickinson, Emily Brontë, Sara Teasdale, Wallace Stevens, and Susanne's own lyrics. Where Compass was an album whose texts spoke of voyages, 'The Gift' is more concerned with the pleasures of the harbour and the homestead, with understanding the richness and fecundity of one's own territory through the changing seasons. Dickinson (1830-1886), Brontë (1818-1848), and Teasdale (1884-1933) were all, by choice, temperament or circumstance, reclusive writers. But fixed location need not temper the flight of the imagination: a landscape or soundscape can be dreamt up... The music, with one exception, is entirely by Abbuehl herself.-------------------------------------------------------------------¶ Singer Susanne Abbuehl has a unique approach to setting verse, getting inside the texts, exploring their inner melodies and rhythms, setting them free to float and sway. The approach is beautifully realized on “The Gift”, recorded in the South of France in the summer of 2012. Poetry embraced on this occasion includes words by Emily Dickinson, Emily Bronté, Sara Teasdale, Wallace Stevens, and Susanne’s own lyrics. In the seven years that have elapsed since the release of Compass, Abbuehl’s band has been reorganized. Wolfert Brederode remains an important, central presence. New to the ensemble are Matthieu Michel, a highly intuitive musical partner since 2009, whose flugelhorn is a wonderful second voice here, and Olavi Louhivouri, whose sensitive drumming was previously heard on Tomasz Stanko’s Dark Eyes.-------------------------------------------------------------------In french:¶ "The Gift est le troisième disque de Susanne Abbuehl pour ECM, après April et Compass, et, autant que ceux-ci et peut-être plus encore, il est en effet un cadeau. La voix de cette jeune femme semble avoir été créée pour la poésie, et la poésie, pour cette voix. En tout cas, celle, intime, lyrique, d'Emily Dickinson, à laquelle Susanne Abbuehl joint ici celles de Sara Teasdale, Wallace Stevens, et même Emily Brontë.¶ Que l'on se rassure, il n'est pas indispensable de comprendre l'anglais pour jouir de cette poésie vocale. Le chant, doux, charnel et immatériel à la fois (c'est son paradoxe), s'élève comme une fleur à laquelle la trompette de Matthieu Michel sert de tuteur, de même que ces deux voix, la féminine et l'instrumentale, s'enroulent autour du silence qu'elles courtisent ensemble. Le piano de Wolfert Brederode, qui avait déjà splendidement serti la joaillerie nocturne d'Abbuehl dans ses disques précédents, et les percussions d'Olavi Louhivuori nappent souterrainement les épousailles de ce timbre si pur, si sororal, et de cette trompette d'or liquide." (Fortaken:http://www.telerama.fr/)¶ Superbe.-------------------------------------------------------------------Bios:Susanne Abbuehl, born in Berne in 1970, studied jazz and classical singing and composition at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, with teachers including Jeanne Lee and Diderik Wagenaar. Abbuehl also studied Indian classical singing with Dr. Prabha Atre in Bombay. She has written for theatre and radio productions including, recently, “Der Gaukler Tag”, a radio play newly nominated for the International Prix Marulic. Her ECM debut "April" received the Edison Award. More information at www.susanneabbuehl.comMatthieu Michel, born in Freiburg, Switzerland in 1963, studied trumpet at Americo Bellotto in Berlin and Vienna. He has toured and recorded extensively as leader and as a longtime member of the Vienna Art Orchestra, and worked with numerous international musicians including Richard Galliano, Joachim Kühn, Walter Norris and Daniel Humair.Wolfert Brederode (born 1974, in Wassenaar, Netherlands) studied jazz and classical piano at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. He leads his own quartet with Claudio Puntin, Mats Eilertsen and Samuel Rohrer which has recorded two albums for ECM, "Currents" and "Post Scriptum", and toured widely. He is also pianist in Yuri Honig’s Acoustic Quartet, and composes music for dance, theatre and film productions in Holland.Olavi Louhivuori was born into a musical family in Helsinki, in1981 and played violin, cello and piano before taking up the drums at the age of 9, subsequently studying percussion at the Sibelius Academy. He has toured the world with Tomasz Stanko, and worked with musicians including Lee Konitz, Anthony Braxton and Marilyn Crispell. He leads his own experimental jazz ensemble Oddarrang.